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Mr. Blue Sky
"Mr. Blue Sky" is a song by British rock group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), featured on the band's seventh studio album Out of the Blue (1977). Written and produced by frontman Jeff Lynne, the song forms the fourth and final track of the "Concerto for a Rainy Day" suite, on side three of the original double album. "Mr. Blue Sky" was the second single to be taken from Out of the Blue, peaking at number 6 in the UK Singles Chart1 and number 35 in the United States.2 The song was played as a wake-up call to astronaut Christopher Ferguson on Day 3 of STS-135, the final mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Contents 1 Inspiration 2 Arrangement 3 Chart performance 4 Jeff Lynne version 5 Music Video 6 References 7 External links Inspiration In a BBC Radio interview, Lynne talked about writing "Mr. Blue Sky" after locking himself away in a Swiss chalet and attempting to write ELO's follow-up to A New World Record: It was dark and misty for 2 weeks, and I didn't come up with a thing. Suddenly the sun shone and it was, 'Wow, look at those beautiful Alps.' I wrote Mr. Blue Sky and 13 other songs in the next 2 weeks. The song's arrangement has been called "Beatlesque",3 bearing similarities to Beatles songs "Martha My Dear" and "A Day in the Life".45 Arrangement The arrangement makes prominent use of a cowbell sound,6 although this is credited on the album, to percussionist Bev Bevan, as "fire extinguisher." Describing the song for the BBC, Dominic King said: Lots of Gibb Brothers’ vocal inflexions and Beatles’ arrangement quotes (Penny Lane bell, Pepper panting, Abbey Road arpeggio guitars). But this fabulous madness creates its own wonder – the bendy guitar solo, funky cello stop-chorus, and the most freakatastic vocoder since Sparky’s Magic Piano. Plus the musical ambush on “way” at 2.51 still thrills. And that’s before the Swingle Singers/RKO Tarzan movie/Rachmaninoff symphonic finale gets underway. Kitsch, yet truly exhilarating.7 The song features a heavily vocoded voice singing the phrase "Mr. Blue Sky". A second vocoded segment at the end of the song was often interpreted as "Mister Blue Sky"; it is actually "Please turn me over" as it is the end of side three, and the listener is being instructed to flip the LP over. This was confirmed by Jeff Lynne on 3 October 2012 on the 'One Show'.8 When the song was performed live as part of the 2013 Children in Need Rocks and Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park 2014 concerts, Richard Tandy is shown on-camera clearly speaking the Please turn me over line. Chart performance Chart (1978) Peak Position Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart9 87 Dutch GfK chart10 8 German Media Control Singles Chart11 27 UK Singles Chart1 6 US Billboard Hot 1002 35 US Cash Box Top 100 Singles 27 US Record World Singles12 33 Jeff Lynne version "Mr. Blue Sky" Song by Electric Light Orchestra from the album Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra Released 8 October 2012 (UK) 9 October 2012 (US) Recorded 2001–2012 Bungalow Palace Length 3:44 Label Frontiers Writer Jeff Lynne Producer Jeff Lynne Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra track listing show12 tracks Jeff Lynne re-recorded the song and other ELO tracks in his own home studio in 2012. The resulting album (Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra) was released under the ELO name.13 Music Video A music video has been released in late 2012 via the official ELO website14 and YouTube,15 a colorful animation directed by Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger with animation sequences designed and animated by University of Southern California students.16 References 1.^ Jump up to: a b "Electric Light Orchestra". Offfical Charts Company. Retrieved 5 March 2013. 2.^ Jump up to: a b "Electric Light Orchestra - Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 March 2013. 3.Jump up ^ "Mr. Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) |". Toponehitwonders.com. 2009-04-22. 4.Jump up ^ "Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra Songfacts". Songfacts.com. 2007-10-19. 5.Jump up ^ "THE BEATLES The Beatles music review by MrCleveland". Progarchives.com. 6.Jump up ^ 1 7.Jump up ^ BBC. "BBC - Radio 2 - Sold On Song - TOP 100 - Number 18 - Mr Blue Sky". BBC. Retrieved 2 January 2015. 8.Jump up ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFexdd_-tL8 Jeff Lynne on The One Show, 3:50 9.Jump up ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. 10.Jump up ^ Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Electric Light Orchestra". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 22 April 2013. 11.Jump up ^ "charts.de - Electric Light Orchestra". charts.de. Retrieved 22 April 2013. 12.Jump up ^ Hawtin, Steve. "Song artist 171 - Electric Light Orchestra". Tsort.info. Retrieved 2 May 2013. 13.Jump up ^ "Releases : elo - Mr. Blue Sky - The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra". Elo.biz. 5 October 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2013. 14.Jump up ^ "Official Music Videos : elo". Retrieved 2 January 2015. 15.Jump up ^ "ELO - Mr. Blue Sky (official video - 2012 version)". YouTube. Retrieved 2 January 2015. 16.Jump up ^ "School of Cinematic Arts News - USC School of Cinematic Arts". cinema.usc.edu. Retrieved 2 January 2015. External links "Electric Light Orchestra: Mr. Blue Sky" at Discogs (list of releases) "Mr. Blue Sky" song review at Allmusic Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics Category:1978 singles Category:Electric Light Orchestra songs Category:Song recordings produced by Jeff Lynne Category:Songs written by Jeff Lynne Category:Jet Records singles Category:1977 songs